“For the past 30 years, influential voices from across the country and around the world have shared their thought-provoking perspectives with our community, generating lively discussions that continued long after they left campus."

UB President Satish K. Tripathi

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Nobel Peace Prize Winner Malala Yousafzai,
former U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice, Grey’s
Anatomy actor and activist Jesse Williams and award-winning actor
and science communicator Alan Alda are among the speakers who will
headline the 2017-18 Distinguished Speakers Series at the
University at Buffalo.

The 31st annual series also will feature cyber security CEO and
former White House CIO Theresa Payton, and James Balog, global
spokesman about climate change and the human impact on the
environment who is founder of the Extreme Ice Survey.

“We are so pleased to launch the 2017-18 Distinguished
Speakers Series with a lineup of trailblazing public figures whose
considerable expertise, outspoken eloquence and profound
convictions are shaping the discourse on some of the defining
issues of our day,” said UB President Satish K. Tripathi.

“For the past 30 years, influential voices from across the
country and around the world have shared their thought-provoking
perspectives with our community, generating lively discussions that
continued long after they left campus. This year’s remarkable
group of speakers – including a leading environmentalist, a
beloved television icon and the youngest-ever Nobel laureate
– promise to do the same, and we look forward to welcoming
each of them to UB.”

The series will kick off on Sept. 19 with Malala
Yousafzai, a champion since the age of 10 for the right of
girls to receive an education. She made headlines when she
was shot by the Taliban in 2012 at the age of 15, while traveling
home from school on the bus with her friends in Pakistan. At
the age of 17, she became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace
Prize. Her book “I Am Malala” (2013), was an
international bestseller that has been translated into 40
languages. Malala is the UB Graduate Student Choice Speaker.
Lecture sponsors are the Girls Education Collaborative, a
Buffalo-based nonprofit that works to equip girls in developing
countries to transcend their circumstances, realize their fullest
potential and become catalysts for change; and the UB School of
Management Center for Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness,
which recognizes Malala’s global leadership as a testament to
her extraordinary resilience, courage and unwavering sense of
purpose.

Theresa Payton, one of the nation’s leading experts
in cybersecurity and IT strategy, will speak on Oct. 18. As
CEO of Fortalice Solutions, an industry-leading security consulting
company, and co-founder of Dark Cubed, a cybersecurity product
company, the former White House CIO is a proven leader and
influencer who works with clients and colleagues to uncover
strategic opportunities and identify new and emerging threats. Her
lecture is sponsored by the UB School of Management’s Alumni
Association, Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and Graduate
Programs.

Jesse Williams, this year’s Undergraduate Student
Choice Speaker, will appear on campus on Nov. 18. Williams,
who plays Dr. Jackson Avery in ABC’s hit series
“Grey’s Anatomy,” served as senior producer and
correspondent for EPIX docuseries “America Divided” and
executive-produced the documentary “Stay Woke: The Black
Lives Matter Movement,” which premiered the summer of 2016.
Williams is founder of the production company farWord Inc.
and executive producer of “Question Bridge: Black
Males,” a series of transmedia art installations, films,
curriculum and website (QuestionBridge.com). A former high school
teacher, Williams is co-owner of Scholly, a mobile app that helps
connect students to scholarships for which they’re
eligible. Williams’ lecture is sponsored by the UB
Undergraduate Student Association.

Ambassador Susan E. Rice will present UB’s 42nd
annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration keynote address on Feb.
28. Rice served President Barack Obama as National Security
Advisor from July 1, 2013, to Jan. 20, 2017. In that role, she led
the National Security Council Staff, chaired the Cabinet-level
National Security Principals Committee, provided the
president’s daily national security briefing, and was
responsible for the coordination and integration of all aspects of
the administration’s foreign and national security policy,
intelligence and military efforts. Her lecture is sponsored by the
UB Minority Faculty and Staff Association.

Climate change expert and environmentalist James Balog
will speak on April 12. In 2007, he founded the Extreme Ice
Survey (EIS), the most wide-ranging, ground-based, photographic
study of glaciers ever conducted. Balog and the EIS team were
featured in the 2012 internationally acclaimed, award-winning
documentary “Chasing Ice” and in the 2009 PBS
“NOVA” special “Extreme Ice.”
“Chasing Ice” won an Emmy Award in 2014 and was
short-listed for an Oscar. The UB College of Arts and
Sciences is sponsoring Balog’s lecture.

Alan Alda will close the series on May 2. Winner of
seven Emmys, six Golden Globes and three DGA awards for directing,
Alda is one of TV Guide’s 50 Greatest Television Stars of All
Time, and is best known for portraying Hawkeye Pierce on
“M*A*S*H.” From 1993 to 2005, Alda hosted PBS'
“Scientific American Frontiers.” A recipient of the
National Science Board’s Public Service Award, Alda is a
visiting professor and founding member of Stony Brook
University’s Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science,
where he helps develop innovative programs on how scientists
communicate with the public. His new company, Alda Communication
Training (ACT), based on The Alda Method™, teaches effective
face-to-face and written communication. He sits on the board of
A.I. research body The Future of Life Institute, alongside Stephen
Hawking, Morgan Freeman and Elon Musk. His lecture is
sponsored by the School of Management’s Alumni Association
(SOMAA), Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and Graduate
Programs. A second lecture sponsorship includes the College
of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering and Applied
Sciences and the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences,
who are working together to take advantage of a SUNY pilot program
that offers the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science’s
highly acclaimed training.

All programs will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Alumni Arena, UB
North Campus.

Series subscriptions will go on sale to the general public on
Aug. 1. Individual lecture tickets will go on sale Aug. 8.

For more information on the speakers, subscription and ticket
prices, and sponsors, visit the series’ website: buffalo.edu/ub-speakers.

The UB Distinguished Speakers Series continues to benefit from
the vital support from a host of sponsors, including the
program’s presenting sponsor, the Donald L. Davis Lectureship
Fund, along with the undergraduate Student Association (SA), which
is the exclusive series sponsor for the 21st consecutive
year. The Distinguished Speakers Series also benefits from
the generous support of Affiliate Series Sponsors: Hodgson Russ
LLP, WGRZ-TV, the University Bookstore and the UB Graduate Student
Association; Contributing Series Sponsors: TIAA, Robitaille Real
Estate, Inspire Dental, United University Professions (UUP), The
Communities of Giving Legacy Initiative (CFGB), the UB Center for
the Arts and UB Athletics. The series is also made possible
by the generous support of the community through the purchase of
series subscriptions and individual lecture tickets. No state
funds, tuition dollars or general gifts to the university or UB
Foundation are used to underwrite the Distinguished Speakers
Series.